Mitt Romney appeared on Univision's "Meet the Candidate" event on Wednesday evening to talk about issues of importance to Latino voters, including immigration, education and foreign policy. But some bloggers, Facebook subscribers and Twitter users focused more on the candidate's complexion than his message.

Some called it an orange spray tan, others labeled it "brownface," but the conjecture was the same. Hundreds of viewers of Wednesday's events took to the Internet, insinuating that the GOP candidate had somehow darkened his skin before coming on Univision's forum, many noting that it was an attempt to appeal to Latino voters. The accusation was reported on by The Huffington Post, Gawker and Wonkette, among others, receiving hundreds of comments on the sites. Here at ABC/Univision, we wanted to clear the air a bit and find out what really happened.

So we asked the man who saw it first hand -- makeup artist Lazz Rodriguez, who applied powder and concealer to the candidate's skin that night. The verdict?

"When he walked in, I remember thinking, 'Wow this is tanner than I thought he was,' but I think he's just been outside a lot lately for his campaign," Rodriguez noted. "It was definitely a real tan."

Rodriguez has been a makeup artist for 25 years, and has applied cosmetics to hundreds of famous faces, including many celebrities and politicians, and a handful of presidents.

"Clinton was definitely the fairest-skinned of politicians I've worked with," he said. "But Romney was a lot darker than I expected," he said.

Rodriguez says that his makeup of choice for the evening was MAC NW30, a medium-range loose powder that he applies to "cut the glare" of stage lights.

The ABC/Univision News team decided to investigate the claims that Romney was wearing powder that was too dark, stopping in at the local Miami MAC store after Thursday's "Meet the Candidate" event with Obama to test out the exact make and model. Indeed, we concluded after various trials that the NW30 was a medium-ranged hue that looked natural on a range of beige skin tones. The color was perhaps a tad too dark on Politics Editor Jordan Fabian, just about right on reporter Julia Saenz, and a shade too light on Miami-boy and Managing Editor Fernando Rodriguez-Vila. But, even when we caked the stuff on, NW30 wasn't notably dark on a range of skin tones under harsh lights.

Rodriguez says that after hearing of the controversy, he spent time looking up pictures of the candidate online, and noticed that he had been tan days prior to the event -- even at his press conference in regards to the controversial "47 percent" remarks. Romney had indeed been travelling in sunny states in the weeks before the Univision event, stopping in Pueblo, Colorado, on Sunday; Los Angeles, California, on Monday; and Texas on Tuesday.

But many criticized the candidate for the tan, saying it was unique to his Univision appearance. Wonkette wrote, "So! Self-tanner 'accident'? Makeup lady that needs firing? Or did John Boehner take him tanning for a little pick-me-up? He has been having a very hard week."

Yohana de la Torre, the director of specialty media for the Romney for President campaign, declined to say why the candidate was notably tan, but said that the conversation over Romney's skin tone obscures more important issues in the campaign.

"Mitt Romney is worried about the 23 million people out of a job and an unemployment rate that has been above 8% for more than 42 consecutive months," she said in a statement to Univision. "The media, on the other hand, is interested in make-up jobs and not how long it's been since the President has met with his Jobs Council."

"It's time to focus on the real issues," she added.

The insinuations that the candidate had previously spray tanned or that the makeup hue was to blame are both incorrect, Rodriguez, the makeup artist, said.

"What they [bloggers and commenters] have done is all a bit sad to me," Rodriguez said, noting that the GOP candidate was very amicable in person.

"I also don't want this to jeopardize a career I've worked so hard to build in this field," he said. "He was tan from being out in the sun on the campaign trail -- that's the only possible explanation." (MORE)

What I find odd is that somehow the crazy evangelical Christian forget Romney is a member of a church they consider heretical and demonic. Forget Obama supposedly being a Muslim, these loonies should read up on Mormonism.

Mitt Romney appeared on Univision's "Meet the Candidate" event on Wednesday evening to talk about issues of importance to Latino voters, including immigration, education and foreign policy. But some bloggers, Facebook subscribers and Twitter users focused more on the candidate's complexion than his message.

Some called it an orange spray tan, others labeled it "brownface," but the conjecture was the same. Hundreds of viewers of Wednesday's events took to the Internet, insinuating that the GOP candidate had somehow darkened his skin before coming on Univision's forum, many noting that it was an attempt to appeal to Latino voters. The accusation was reported on by The Huffington Post, Gawker and Wonkette, among others, receiving hundreds of comments on the sites. Here at ABC/Univision, we wanted to clear the air a bit and find out what really happened.

So we asked the man who saw it first hand -- makeup artist Lazz Rodriguez, who applied powder and concealer to the candidate's skin that night. The verdict?

"When he walked in, I remember thinking, 'Wow this is tanner than I thought he was,' but I think he's just been outside a lot lately for his campaign," Rodriguez noted. "It was definitely a real tan."

Rodriguez has been a makeup artist for 25 years, and has applied cosmetics to hundreds of famous faces, including many celebrities and politicians, and a handful of presidents.

"Clinton was definitely the fairest-skinned of politicians I've worked with," he said. "But Romney was a lot darker than I expected," he said.

Rodriguez says that his makeup of choice for the evening was MAC NW30, a medium-range loose powder that he applies to "cut the glare" of stage lights.

The ABC/Univision News team decided to investigate the claims that Romney was wearing powder that was too dark, stopping in at the local Miami MAC store after Thursday's "Meet the Candidate" event with Obama to test out the exact make and model. Indeed, we concluded after various trials that the NW30 was a medium-ranged hue that looked natural on a range of beige skin tones. The color was perhaps a tad too dark on Politics Editor Jordan Fabian, just about right on reporter Julia Saenz, and a shade too light on Miami-boy and Managing Editor Fernando Rodriguez-Vila. But, even when we caked the stuff on, NW30 wasn't notably dark on a range of skin tones under harsh lights.

Rodriguez says that after hearing of the controversy, he spent time looking up pictures of the candidate online, and noticed that he had been tan days prior to the event -- even at his press conference in regards to the controversial "47 percent" remarks. Romney had indeed been travelling in sunny states in the weeks before the Univision event, stopping in Pueblo, Colorado, on Sunday; Los Angeles, California, on Monday; and Texas on Tuesday.

But many criticized the candidate for the tan, saying it was unique to his Univision appearance. Wonkette wrote, "So! Self-tanner 'accident'? Makeup lady that needs firing? Or did John Boehner take him tanning for a little pick-me-up? He has been having a very hard week."

Yohana de la Torre, the director of specialty media for the Romney for President campaign, declined to say why the candidate was notably tan, but said that the conversation over Romney's skin tone obscures more important issues in the campaign.

"Mitt Romney is worried about the 23 million people out of a job and an unemployment rate that has been above 8% for more than 42 consecutive months," she said in a statement to Univision. "The media, on the other hand, is interested in make-up jobs and not how long it's been since the President has met with his Jobs Council."

"It's time to focus on the real issues," she added.

The insinuations that the candidate had previously spray tanned or that the makeup hue was to blame are both incorrect, Rodriguez, the makeup artist, said.

"What they [bloggers and commenters] have done is all a bit sad to me," Rodriguez said, noting that the GOP candidate was very amicable in person.

"I also don't want this to jeopardize a career I've worked so hard to build in this field," he said. "He was tan from being out in the sun on the campaign trail -- that's the only possible explanation." (MORE)

1) The whole mandating a woman to keep a baby from rape. That statement turns off all the voting women and half the men. Fair is her body her choice.

2) He won't show his taxes. This makes him look like a liar weather he is or isn't.

3) America doesn't relate to him. Him being super super rich makes him out of touch with most voters. Even people making 100k or more a year don't believe his plan will benefit them financially.

4) He's morman. Like it or not it's perceived as weird by people who aren't morman. Especially their belief in magic underwear.

5) The video that just came out saying he doesn't care about 47% of the voters. When you need votes to win alienating half of the voters is foolish.

6) Obama has more charisma in his little finger then Romney has in his whole body.

7) Obama will smoke him in debates, especially if Romney keeps giving him all this "slam dunk" ammunition.

I admire his wealth and liked how he governed in Mass when he was GOV there.Sadly, the teat party hijjacked him and morphed him into the guy we see today.For me , picking Ryan as his VP and agreewing with the yan budget plan was enough for me NOT to vote for them.I think medicare is really good thing for seniors and I don't want it changed.I also think social security is a good program for many working folks when they retire.Obamacare isn't perfect but I trsut the GOV more then some profit sucking HMO's.

Unlike some nayasyers I think GOV can and will do things quite well that the private sector just can't /won't do .1. In 3 yrs the US Gov Dept of Energy built the first atomic bomb from scratch.2. NASA another GOV agency put a man on the moon

ok, since I can't get an answer (that's worth a shit) tell me why Obama should get back in. He and his administration have been deemed proven liers time after time yet the medias also has been proven to cover up for him. ALL of his major indicator numbers are in the shitter. Oh fuck, why go on. If you can't figure it out you're as dumb as the rest of the freeloaders who are voting for him.

Obama, the president of free shit...as long as it doesn't cost him anything.

What I find odd is that somehow the crazy evangelical Christian forget Romney is a member of a church they consider heretical and demonic. Forget Obama supposedly being a Muslim, these loonies should read up on Mormonism.

What I find odd is that somehow the crazy evangelical Christian forget Romney is a member of a church they consider heretical and demonic. Forget Obama supposedly being a Muslim, these loonies should read up on Mormonism.

You mean as opposed to a muslim president? Obama is no better than the one's who killed that ambassador. He enabled them.

there is nothing great about obama. However the fixation you and people like you have against him is clearly irrational. it really doesn't matter two shits who is in the white house. apart from small scale policies that are calibrated to trigger gut reactions from some target audiences both parties do the same when in power.

your are just one those target audiences , so you believe there is this big fight between good and bad. There isn't and you re being played

that however does not change the fact that you hold many beliefs that are demonstrably wrong, and others which are beyond wrong and fall under the category of bigoted and so stupid that they cant even be argued with.

there is nothing great about obama. However the fixation you and people like you have against him is clearly irrational. it really doesn't matter two shits who is in the white house. apart from small scale policies that are calibrated to trigger gut reactions from some target audiences both parties do the same when in power.

your are just one those target audiences , so you believe there is this big fight between good and bad. There isn't and you re being played

that however does not change the fact that you hold many beliefs that are demonstrably wrong, and others which are beyond wrong and fall under the category of bigoted and so stupid that they cant even be argued with.

there is nothing great about obama. However the fixation you and people like you have against him is clearly irrational. it really doesn't matter two shits who is in the white house. apart from small scale policies that are calibrated to trigger gut reactions from some target audiences both parties do the same when in power.

your are just one those target audiences , so you believe there is this big fight between good and bad. There isn't and you re being played

that however does not change the fact that you hold many beliefs that are demonstrably wrong, and others which are beyond wrong and fall under the category of bigoted and so stupid that they cant even be argued with.

As long as they keep pushing the Jesus and they are going to take your guns away stuff, they will continue to get those votes. That is what those people vote on any way, it certainly isn't the economic policy and the Republicans know it.